YOGA FOR DEPRESSION – 11.13.14 (Grief in the Tissues)

YOGA FOR DEPRESSION – 11.13.14 (Grief in the Tissues)

My Level 5 training for YogaFit opened my eyes to myself. It opened my eyes to myself in the Now. The Now truly allows us the freedom of joy and possibility of so much. It takes the frustration, inadequacy, and mistakes of the past and allows us to experience the Now in our own individual way. Our past isn’t forgotten. Don’t compartmentalize the frustration, inadequacy and mistakes, but rather realize that the Now offers so much amazement.

One of my favorite quotes is “become comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Life definitely lends itself to this quote. The moment that we feel comfortable is the moment that life will send something our way that tests us. I have to do this daily in my classroom. I have to challenge my scholars. They deserve it and need it. I also take my responsibility as a Yoga instructor extremely seriously as well. My yogis deserve to be challenged in their physical and mental practice. We all must “become comfortable being uncomfortable.”

I bring all of this about to help us realize why the Now is so significant to us. It allows the trauma of the past to weigh less. Will it remove the trauma? No. Will it allow us to move on to action instead of guilt, depression and anger? Yes. The Now calls us to action. So take action! Continue to build your physical practice and make space in the body. The space we create allows a number of things to leave the body. Continue to build your mental practice and allow the mind the time to be wild and crazy. The mind will find calm when it is allowed to be wild and crazy. Let the body and the mind release. They both need this to allow you the most amazing experiences in the Now. It is extremely hard to divorce ourselves from emotions of the past, but if we can change our perception then we will see a beautiful change in our view of the present moment.

Grief in the Tissues – Releasing Trauma

Everything that we’ve ever experienced is stored in the body. Even when traumatic memory is repressed, the body remembers. “Yoga is an exquisite form of body work that eliminates the residue that has become lodged in the tissue.”

“Yogic practices bring us to a state of ripeness. They purify the energy channels for the free flow of prana (life force, energy). In the process, the sludge is brought to the surface. It’s like cleaning the sewers. The psychological and emotional obstacles get flushed to the surface.”

When you practice every day, the ordinary losses you have faced in your life, losses that have become “lodged in the tissue,” begin to dissolve. Eventually, even the most traumatic of experiences may be released.

Deep releases, be they physical, energetic, or emotional, come “when the student is ready.”